BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a level detector applicable to a radio receiver.
Generally, it is desirable for a level detector to have the following characteristics:
(i) good linearity (low distortion factor),
(ii) high detection efficiency,
(iii) good stability with respect to temperature variations, and
(iv) a low manufacturing cost and a small size.
A transistor detector is a well-known type of high-efficiency detector.
The conventional detector using transistors performs level detection at the base emitter junction of a transistor, so that an amplified and detected output signal is obtained at the collector thereof. This kind of detector, however, is difficult to use for realizing both a good linearity characteristic a high detection efficiency due to the following reasons:
Firstly, a heavy non-linear distortion is caused by using the non-linear characteristics of the base emitter junction of the transistor.
Secondly, it is difficult to provide a load resistor, having a high resistance value, in the monolithic semiconductor chip for realizing a high detection efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a level detector which can solve the above-noted problems and has a good linearity (low distortion factor) and a high detection efficiency and is small in size and inexpensive to produce, thereby being suited for a semiconductor integrated circuit.
In detail, a level detector of the invention firstly employs, emitter type amplifier comprising two transistors connected in parallel so that odd order harmonic distortion components are mutually eliminated, and DC and even order harmonic components only appear at the collector thereof, and secondly, is composed of a high impedance load realized by a transistor which is biased in its active region, thereby raising the detection efficiency.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a level detector of the present invention, formed in the integrated circuit, and
FIG. 2 is a graph of level detection output voltage from an output terminal with respect to an AC input signal.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1, two AC signals, whose level is to be detected, and having the same signal level and having the opposite polarity are introduced to terminals 1 and 2, respectively. Reference numeral 3 designates an output terminal at the level detector of the invention, numeral 4 designates a power supply terminal for the DC power source, and numeral 5 designates a ground terminal.
Transistors Q1, Q2 and Q3 are PNP type, their bases being connected altogether. The emitters of the transistors Q1, Q2 and Q3 are connected to the power supply terminal 4 through bias resistors R1, R3 and R4, respectively. The base and collector of transistor Q1 are connected together the collector thereof being grounded through resistor R2. The collectors of transistors Q2 and Q3 are respectively connected to the collector of transistor Q4 and the collectors of NPN transistors Q5 and Q6 which are connected together. NPN transistors Q4, Q5 and Q6 are grounded at the emitters thereof and connected at the bases to the collector of transistor Q4 through base-bias resistors R5, R6 and R7, respectively; the collector of transistor Q4, as noted above, being connected to the collector of transistor Q2. The bases of transistors Q5 and Q6 are connected to the input terminals 1 and 2 through AC signal coupling capacitors C2 and C3 respectively and the collectors of transistors Q3, Q5 and Q6 are connected to the detector output terminal 3 and also grounded through a filtering capacitor C1.
Next, the operation of the above mentioned circuit will be described.
Transistor Q1 and resistors R1 and R2 construct a base-bias circuit with respect to transistors Q2 and Q3, the emitter currents of transistors Q2 and Q3 being determined by emitter resistors R3 and R4 thereof and the base-bias circuit. It is to be noted that the transistor Q1 is used for compensating for the temperature dependant characteristics of the base emitter junctions of the transistors Q2 and Q3.
Transistors Q4, Q5 and Q6 and resistors R5, R6 and R7, constitute a current mirror circuit. Therefore, the collector bias currents of transistors Q5 and Q6 is determined by the collector current of transistor Q4. On the other hand, since the collector of transistor Q4 is connected to the collector of transistor Q2, as mentioned before, the collector current in transistor Q4 is nearly equal to that of transistor Q2, whereby it is seen that the collector currents of transistors Q5 and Q6 are determined by transistor Q2. To simplify the explanation, if it is assumed that transistors Q4, Q5, and Q6 have the same characteristics, and it if is assumed that resistors R5, R6 and R7 are equal in resistance, then the collector currents of transistors Q4, Q5 and Q6 are nearly equal to that of transistor Q2.
As seen from the circuit diagram in FIG. 1, the sum of the collector currents of transistors Q5 and Q6 is equal to the collector current of transistor Q3.
Now, when the circuit is so designed so that the resistance value of resistor R4 is made considerably smaller than that of resistor R3, so that the emitter current of transistor Q3 becomes larger than the sum of the collector currents of transistors Q5 and Q6 (the sum determined by the emitter current of transistor Q2), transistor Q3 has its operating point in its saturation region.
This invention is characterized firstly in that the operating point of the transistor Q3, when an input signal is not present or too small, is set to be in its saturation region.
FIG. 2 shows the change of level detection output voltage Vout from an output terminal 3 in FIG. 1 with respect to an AC input signal voltage Vin applied between terminals 1 and 2 in FIG. 1. The level detection output voltage Vout is high when the AC input signal voltage Vin is smaller than Vx because the transistor Q3 operates in its saturation region.
Next, the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 1 will be described under the condition where two AC input signals having the same signal level and the opposite polarity are applied to terminals 1 and 2, respectively. The AC input signals are applied to the bases of transistors Q5 and Q6 through coupling capacitors C2 and C3, respectively.
It is well known that a rectified output signal is obtained at the collectors of transistors Q5 and Q6 when the applied AC input signals are so large that they overdrive the base to emitter junctions thereof.
The alternating current component included in the aforesaid rectified output signal is removed by the aforesaid filtering capacitor C1, so that only a rectified DC component corresponding to the level of the input AC signals is applied to the collector of transistor Q3. Hence, the collector current of transistor Q3 increases as the AC input level increases, so that the operating point of transistor Q3 is changed from its saturation region into its active region.
At this point, transistor Q3 acts as a load resistor, having a large resistance value, for the transistors Q5 and Q6.
Referring to FIG. 2, the operating point of transistor Q3, as shown, is driven into the active region in the vicinity of an input level Vx.
When the level of the input AC signal Vin applied between the input terminals 1 and 2 is large enough to overdrive the base-emitter junctions of the transistors Q5 and Q6, a rectified DC signal is produced at the collectors of the transistors Q5 and Q6. The rectified DC signal increases with the further increase of the input AC signal Vin, so that the operating point of the transistor Q3 moves toward the active region of the transistor Q3. And finally, when the level of the input AC signal Vin reaches the level equal to Vx, the operating point of the transistor Q3 reaches the active region of the transistor Q3. Accordingly, the collector of the transistor Q3, or the output voltage Vout, decreases as shown in FIG. 2.
The level detector of the invention, which provides rectifying transistors Q5 and Q6 in parallel and which needs two AC input signals of opposite polarity with same signal level, may be simplified by omitting either transistor Q5 or Q6. However, in this instance, since the input signals to be rectified are usually intermediate frequency signals, in some cases, more than two signals close in frequency exist as said intermediate frequency signals according to a certain receiving condition.
In the above-noted case, a rectifier circuit which omits either transistor Q5 and Q6 generates high intermodulation products with a high input level due to the non-linearity of the base-emitter junction of transistor Q6 and Q5. Some of these intermodulation products are irregularly coupled to the input of the intermediate frequency amplifier and detector which causes a distorted sound.
This invention is characterized in that the transistors Q5 and Q6 are provided in parallel so as to eliminate the odd order intermodulation product, which is very harmful as mentioned above, by balancing out said odd order intermodulation products at their collectors.
The level detector of the invention is advantageous in:
(1) having a low distortion factor, because of a pair of ground emitter--amplifiers, having the collectors thereby connected together and which are the basic elements of the detector, are constructed essentially so as not to generate odd order harmonic distortion;
(2) having a high detection efficiency, because the active load transistor, used as the load resistor, has a high load impedance;
(3) having good stability with respect to the temperature variations, because the operating point of the detector is determined by the temperature compensated current mirror circuit; and
(4) being easy to realize in a monolithic integrated semiconductor chip.
In addition, although the collector currents of transistors Q5 and Q6 in FIG. 1 are determined by transistor Q4 according to the principle of the current mirror for the convenience of explanation, other circuit configurations could of course be desirably adoptive within the scope of this invention.